Coleridge Goode

Bassist Coleridge Goode (1914-2015) had a rich, varied and very long career after moving to the UK in 1934, where he initially studied Electrical Engineering at Glasgow University. He was born in Jamaica to musical parents – his father was an organist and choral conductor, while his mother was a keen singer. His first instrument was violin, but he took up the double bass after becoming interested in jazz. He moved to London in 1942, finding work with trumpeter (and racing driver) Johnny Claes and Leslie ‘Jiver’ Hutchinson, as well as leading his own band The Caribbean Trio with guitarist Lauderic Caton and pianist Dick Katz from 1945.

He became friendly with French violinist Stephane Grappelli, who had moved to England to escape the German occupation of France. Grappelli had a show on the BBC Home Service called ‘Sophisticated Swing’ and Goode joined pianist George Shearing and drummer Jack Parnell in the violinist’s band. When Django Reinhardt came to London to reunite with Grapelli, he sat in with Goode’s Caribbean Trio, and Goode was asked to be part of an Anglo-French Quintet for Reinhardt and Grapelli’s first recordings together in five years. In 1947, the Caribbean Trio became the core of the newly formed Ray Ellington Quartet. He left Ellington’s group in 1951, joining accordionist Tito Burns‘ Sextet. He was mostly freelance during the 1950s, but began a fruitful collaboration with Joe Harriott from 1958, appearing on Harriott’s pioneering explorations of free jazz and the Indo-Jazz sessions with John Mayer in the 1960s. Other frequent collaborators included trumpeter Shake Keane and pianist-composer Michael Garrick into the 1970s.

Goode recorded less frequently from the 1980s, but found regular work with bassist Laurie Morgan and pianist Iggy Quaile, the three of them eventually hosting a weekly jam session at the King’s Head in Crouch End. Goode continued to play into his 90s and in 2011 was awarded a Parliamentary Jazz Award for ‘Services to Jazz’. He died, aged 100, just three months after the death of his wife of 70 years, Gertrude.

Key Recordings:

With Joe Harriott, Michael Garrick, Django Reinhardt